A useful feature provided on some scanners enables a user to electronically send a scanned document to designated recipients. The user designates the recipients and scans the document. The scanner establishes communication over a network with an electronic mail (e-mail) server and transmits the document to the e-mail server. The e-mail server either delivers the document to the recipients or routes the document to one or more other servers for ultimate delivery to the recipients.
Conventionally, the user cannot be sure that the document has been properly delivered to the e-mail server from the scanner. Under certain circumstances, the document may be lost while it appears to the user that the document has been successfully transmitted to the e-mail server. For example, if the scanner losses electrical power before the document has been completely transmitted to the e-mail server, the document will be lost. If the user does not notice the power loss, the user may be unaware of the loss of the document.
In another example, if communication between the e-mail server and the scanner is interrupted during transmission of the document to the e-mail server, the document will be lost. The communication may be interrupted by an error in the network or the e-mail server. In this example, the user will have no way of knowing of the loss of the document other than verifying receipt of the document by the recipients.